Daily Archives: 1 Feb 2018

There is more great news for those interested in learning about the Septuagint.

Among the various opportunities coming in the next six months that I’ve posted about recently, yet another is now available in the classroom setting.

From 22-26 May 2018 the Septuagint Summer Course will take place at the John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies, hosted at Trinity Western University. If some of this sounds familiar to you, that’s probably because this is now the fourth time that TWU has offered this opportunity. I have participated in two of the previous seminars and it’s a great time of focused study with experts in a small group setting (see here, here, and here).

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Human beings often have generous views of themselves – not always easy to defend. Massive scientific advances are sometimes used for destructive purposes. This lecture looks at our changing understanding of ourselves, focussing on Charles Darwin’s theory of human origins and the religious, scientific and ethical questions raised. Does a tendency to violence reflect our evolutionary past? If so, what can be done about it? Does it help us understand what is going on? Or to work out what we can do about it? Modern humanists have yet to come to terms with Darwin and the idea that humans are like other animals.

No reservations are required for this lecture. It will be run on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Doors will open 30 minutes before the start of the lecture.

Lecture location and details available here. I sure hope they record it.

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Since October 2017, over 2300 Texans have died due to the flu. In the face of that fact, Gloria Copeland, wife of word of faith preacher Kenneth Copeland, took to Facebook yesterday to declare that there is no flu season.

Although she doesn’t explicitly discourage getting a flu shot, it certainly sounds like she wants her hearers to trust Jesus instead of a shot. In the video, she says:

We’ve already had out shot. He bore out sicknesses and carried our diseases. That’s what we stand on. And by His stripes, we are healed.

After she prays for healing for every person with the flu, she says:

Jesus Himself gave us the flu shot. He redeemed us from the curse of flu. And we receive it and we take it and we are healed by His stripes.

At the end of the talk, she says to “inoculate yourself with the Word of God.”

The short survey, administered by a team of door-to-door volunteers, asked residents how long they had lived in the area, what religion they identified with if any, and which Christian beliefs they found abhorrent, “so that we can best decide which teachings to part with in order to pander to non-believers.”

“Which of the following historic positions can we toss out the window to cater to your sensibilities?” the survey reads. “Please check all that apply.” The one-page questionnaire then lists over thirty orthodox Christian positions that the church is happy to disown at a moment’s notice, including salvation by Christ alone, the holiness of God, the deity of Christ, a traditional view of marriage, and dozens more.

In an interview, head visioneering pastor Mark Lyle told a local news station he’s excited for the opportunity to scuttle core doctrines of the Christian faith “for the sake of the gospel.”

“Lots of churches talk about ‘essentials’—what’s essential to us is getting people in the door,” Lyle said. “There are literally tons of indispensable doctrines we are happy to fling by the wayside, should they make you feel uncomfortable. Just let us know.”

It’s funny because it’s true.

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Where love is absent, Christian faith is absent. That rather simple assertion is based on numerous texts of Scripture. For instance, Jesus declares “”By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:35)”

Jesus simply could not have been more clear: the marker, the indicator, the demonstrative proof of authentic Christian faith is love for the brethren. It only stands to reason, then, to understand that where love is absent, so is Christian faith.

Given that that is true, it seems that many Christian folk are in serious need of examining their standing with Christ. If they really were his disciples, his followers, they would love. But the absence of love in their lives, the absence of compassion, the absence of concern, the absence of outreach, prayer, and concrete demonstrations of love show them, and all those around them, that they really don’t know Christ at all.

Isn’t the topic of one’s personal relationship with Christ the most important in one’s life and isn’t it true that it’s a subject worthy of serious self-reflection? If so, isn’t it worth asking ourselves (because we can’t ask for anyone else) if we don’t love like we should, do we even know him? Do we really want to hear, on judgment day, ‘depart from me, workers of iniquity, into the lake of fire prepared for the Devil and his angels, because I never knew you!’

If love isn’t a real part of your life, maybe it’s time to look yourself in the mirror and take a good look at who you really are. I suspect a lot of ‘church goers’ will be very surprised on judgment day when they are excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven. Don’t let yourself be one of them. Love. It’s the only true proof of faith.